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For the last months of her life, she was surrounded by her family, children and grandchildren at the palace.

Viscount Linley told Sue Lawley on the Radio 4 programme Desert Island Discs in an interview recorded a month before his mother's death said: "We have a son who is two and a half, who rushes in and I think jollies the whole things on a bit and, again, renews a bit of energy in the house."

Four days before her fatal stroke, she had attended the third birthday party of her grandson Arthur, Lady Sarah Chatto's second son, and returned to Kensington Palace with a helium balloon tied to her wheelchair.

Since then she has been confined to her room most of the time. Lady Sarah has paid regular visits, bringing her sons Arthur and Samuel, five.

Princess Margaret always said her children were not members of the Royal Family. They were allowed to carve their own careers, Viscount Linley as an accomplished furniture maker and Lady Sarah as an artist.

They are often seen at family occasions, such as birthday, weddings and christenings, but carry out no official engagements.

In 1993, David married the Hon Serena Stanhope, daughter of Viscount Petersham, a landowner. Sarah married David Chatto, an artist, in 1994.